Kieran Faulkner
Kieran Faulkner is a native of Likatonia, and serves as the first and current leader of the Native Likatonian Party. Biography Early Life Faulkner was born in West Bolton to aristocratic parents who owned a handful of plantations throughout Likatonia. He was born the eighth child, and was the fifth son, and hence was not expected to inherit much from his father's estate. With this in mind, his mother insisted he be tutored in other fields, and kept away from the everyday life of the plantation. Even as a teenager, he attempted to thwart this, listening in to business dealings or walking about the plantations, asking workers and foremen alike about the goings on. This met sharp rebukes from his parents and his brothers. Faulkner would later write that his family seemed intent on "keeping me in an iron cage, like the deformed offspring of a family pet they were too horrified to love, but too humane to kill." Even as a preteen, Faulkner found a love for political theory and history. He was often by servants intently reading every book on these subjects in his family library. He found the books of his own time dull and overly philosophical, and instead read the works of the men who had influenced the founding of Likatonia, as well as the political thinkers of antiquity. At the age of 18, Faulkner was married to 17-year old Amelie Graham, a young woman from another aristocratic family. It was seen as a marriage of convenience, as Amelie had been born with a deformed foot, and her family could find no other male suitors. However, Kieran and Amelie grew to sincerely care and love for one another. During his studies at university, three of Faulkner's brothers died of yellow fever, and he ended up with much of his father's inheritance when the elder Faulkner died the next year - all completely contrary to the expectations of his family. Political Career For much of his 20's, Faulkner was a self-professed voter of the Republican Party, even if he never took membership. When he found the Republican Party to be growing far too soft in the face of rising socialism and progressive theory, he began to openly support the Likatonian Independence Party. In the 4080's, a friend introduced him to the writings of Finlay Ward. Faulkner was impressed with Ward's clear-thinking, and was surprised to see that others in the country thought as he did. He was soon invited by a friend to attend meetings of what was at the time being called the Likatonian Party. There he soon gained a small following. As the deliberation between "ballot or bullet" was being held, in regards to whether the Likatonian Party should favor revolutionary, paramilitary tactics over entering the electoral system, Faulkner pressed for a populist position. Revolution would only isolate the people, he said, and every government was maintained, in one way or another, through a populist movement. If the people could be won, he said, then they would support whatever it was their government did. Though many in the party found this too soft an approach, Faulkner's oratory skills won out, and the Likatonian Party, now renamed the Native Likatonian Party, adopted this strategy. Political Views Race Faulkner has denied allegations of racism, saying that he prefers to call himself a racialist. He has openly stated that there are many non-Likatonian people around Terra who are of "fine and upstanding moral character." However, he argues that every region, every ethnicity, and every race has inherent traits - good and bad - which cannot be denied. In a letter to a university colleague, he wrote: Ask a person from West Bolton what they think of a person from East Bolton. Now do the reversed. What will you find? Each person views the other with a pre-judgment. Some regions take a pride in it. Yet when we say the same about this-one or that-one from this-race or that-race, we are called racists. We merely affirm what many on the opposite side likewise affirm in spirit: that groups of people share similar traits, weaknesses, and advantages. Faulkner likewise believes that race, culture, and nation are inherently tied together, arguing that a nation is only as strong as the familial bonds within it. Multiculturalism, he writes, destroys such a bond, and hence makes a nation weaker. Category:Politicians of Likatonia Category:Likatonia Category:Native Likatonian Party